Chapter 103: Interview Session, Small Tricks to Win Hearts (Two-in-One, 5k) (Patreon)

Sunday. It was a day off, so students didn't have classes — but Student Council business didn't pause just because it was the weekend.

Naruse arrived at the Student Council around eight in the morning. He'd already applied to the school in advance for the empty classroom next door, to use as the venue for today's interviews.

The room wasn't large — somewhere around thirty-some square meters — but it was more than enough for a small-scale interview session.

Once inside, he started by pushing three desks together into a row at the front of the room — that would be the interviewers' seats. Then, about two or three meters directly across from them, he set out a single chair for the interviewee. The setup was simple, but it had the virtue of being clean and orderly.

This recruitment drive wasn't just some rubber-stamp formality. Anyone who joined the Student Council would actually be expected to do real work, and they wouldn't get a vote.

So Naruse had settled on one principle early on: he wasn't obligated to recruit exclusively from Class A.

Sitting in the middle seat, he flipped through the stack of printed application files in front of him — somewhere around twenty of them.

Class A had submitted the most applications — about ten or so. Most of these people had seen how Naruse was performing in the Student Council and decided following him looked "promising," so they'd signed up on their own initiative.

Class B's applications numbered close to ten as well, all of them recommended by Honami Ichinose — essentially the standout top performers of Class B.

As for Class C, there wasn't a single application. That wasn't surprising.

Class C's relationship with Naruse wasn't hostile, exactly, but it wasn't exactly friendly either. Kakeru Ryuen hadn't secured control of his class yet, but after two moves, his "scheming" had genuinely won him a fair number of followers.

And Mio Ibuki had no interest in the Student Council whatsoever — she'd never agree to let anyone from her class work under Naruse. That much had been clear from the very start.

What actually surprised Naruse wasn't Class C, though — it was Class D.

Three applications had come in from there, of all things: Ryuko Nishimura, Chiaki Matsushita, and Yosuke Hirata.

All three were fairly capable people within Class D. Naruse didn't rush to a conclusion — he decided to wait until after the interviews to make up his mind.

Around nine, Honami Ichinose arrived.

The pink-haired girl walked in carrying a big shopping bag full of decorations she'd prepared ahead of time — a few bundles of flowers, a stack of colored cardstock, and a wooden board for making a welcome sign.

"Good morning, Naruse-san!"

"Morning, Ichinose."

Her voice was crisp and bright. It wasn't exactly a "social mixer" today, but since Class B students were involved in the interviews, and Ichinose genuinely wanted to see this through, she seemed full of energy.

Once the interview room was decorated, Naruse gave it a once-over and had to admit it now looked properly put together.

"Nice work, Ichinose."

Ichinose really was well-suited to organizational work — she was meticulous, and her follow-through wasn't weak either.

"It's no trouble at all. Aren't we friends, Naruse-san? Friends don't need to thank each other."

"Is that so."

At ten o'clock, the new department's recruitment officially began.

By Naruse's arrangement, applicants would first line up in the hallway to register, then enter the room one by one in order for their interviews.

Naruse handed the hallway registration duty to Ichinose, and the girl obligingly took the roster outside to call names.

Quite a few people from Class B had come to interview this time, and a handful of them caught Naruse's particular attention — So Shibata, Yuki Himeno, Mako Amikura, and Tetsuya Hamaguchi.

These were all pillars of Class B — solid grades, solid athletic ability, part of what you'd call the class's "core fighting force."

As for Ryuji Kanzaki and Sayo Ando, whom Naruse had taken note of before, neither had submitted an application.

They'd told Ichinose that since she'd already gone off to the Student Council, the two of them needed to keep an eye on the class and do their best to look out for their classmates.

Naruse didn't know the details behind that, but honestly, it didn't matter to him either way.

Soon enough, the interviews began, one after another.

About an hour or so into the interviews, an odd commotion stirred in the hallway.

A moment later, the door opened, and Kei Karuizawa appeared.

She hadn't disrupted the interview order — she'd texted Naruse ahead of time, asking if she could come in once the current interview wrapped up.

Naruse had, of course, agreed. The moment she stepped into the room, a smile spread across her face.

"Hikaru-kun~ Are you tired today?"

"Not really."

She walked straight over to Naruse's side, pulled a bottle of his favorite drink out of her bag, and set it on the table in front of him.

"You must be thirsty — here, have a sip of this first?"

"Mm."

After the two of them chatted for a bit, Kei's gaze drifted over to Ichinose, who was standing in the hallway getting ready to call the next name.

Honestly, Ichinose had always given Kei a fair amount of a sense of threat.

Part of it was that Ichinose's looks and figure were simply too outstanding — and Kei, who knew exactly what kind of man Naruse was, understood full well that Ichinose had more than enough going for her to catch his eye.

The other part came from a purely female instinct of rivalry: Ichinose was gentle and considerate, and her popularity among the girls had always been high — which on its own was enough to put Kei on edge.

Now, watching Ichinose look so busy and earnest, something indefinable churned inside Kei.

"Hikaru-kun, why don't you let Ichinose take a break? I can handle the name-calling job."

"Hm?"

Naruse understood the moment he heard it.

"What, are you jealous, Kei?"

"W-who's jealous!" Kei flared up instantly, like a rabbit whose tail had been stepped on. "I just want to help take some of the pressure off you, Hikaru-kun."

"Why bother troubling an outsider for this?"

Naruse honestly didn't care who helped out, but he had no intention of simply giving in to Kei right now.

You couldn't spoil a woman too much.

"More than that, I actually just thought of something else I need you to help me with."

"Sure, what is it?"

The moment she heard that, Kei's eyes lit up — after all, what satisfied her most was being able to help Naruse.

"Come closer."

"Oh..."

Naruse gave her a very simple task — one that would have a rather nice effect.

"There are about twenty-some people coming to interview today. Add me, Ichinose, and you, and that's close to thirty."

"We won't announce who's accepted until all the interviews are done, so no one's going to leave early... but at this rate, we won't finish until well past two."

"Everyone's bound to get hungry, so how about you go order thirty premium bento sets, and bring a few helpers along to carry them over?"

Kei blinked, caught off guard for a moment.

"Thirty of them?"

If she went through a restaurant or the cafeteria, premium bento sets weren't cheap — generally somewhere between 1,500 and 1,800 points each. Thirty of them would run to something like forty or fifty thousand points.

"Heh, it's a necessary expense. It's my interview session, after all — people gave up their day off to come, and I can't very well have them leave hungry on top of being rejected, can I?"

"This is important groundwork, you know. Don't you get it?"

"Oh, I get it."

Kei had no interest in Student Council power herself, but she wanted Naruse to be liked and supported by everyone — that way, she'd get to share in the glow of it too.

"Let me transfer you the money now — this can't come out of your private stash."

Naruse smiled faintly, then took out his phone and tapped through a few screens.

A moment later, Kei's phone buzzed, and a system notification popped up on the screen.

[Private Points Received: 60,000]

"Hikaru-kun, isn't this a bit much?"

"The extra is a running-errands fee for you. No refusing it — same reason as last time."

Last time's reason had been: wasn't it only natural for him to spend money on his own girl?

"Oh, okay." Kei didn't refuse — she just planted a quick peck on Naruse's cheek, then got moving.

"Bye-bye, Hikaru-kun, I'm off to go buy the food!"

"Right. If it's heavy, remember to grab a few more people to help."

"I'll get Sato and Nene to help. Don't worry, Hikaru-kun."

"Okay."

Once she'd left, Naruse glanced at his account balance — he still had over a million points.

Sixty thousand points was truly a drop in the bucket for him.

After the whole business with Ken Sudo's violence accusation had been resolved, the points that had been frozen were quickly disbursed — so Naruse had received something like a hundred-thousand-plus Private Points from the school last week.

Meanwhile, now that June had arrived, his two bond cards were still steadily accumulating returns.

[Junior Bond Card · No. 1] [Amount Held: 500,000 points] [This month's rate refreshed: 6%/week] [Weekly return: 30,000 pr]

[Junior Bond Card · No. 2] [Amount Held: 500,000 points] [This month's rate refreshed: 7%/week] [Weekly return: 35,000 pr]

A quick calculation showed the past two weeks alone had already added over a hundred thousand more, so points were the last thing Naruse needed to worry about.

Once Kei had gone, he glanced over at Ichinose and called out.

"Ichinose, we can continue."

"Got it." The girl smiled and called out toward the hallway.

"Next up, Naoki Shimizu."

The interviews carried on.

The Class A applicants were solid across the board overall, with no glaring weaknesses. What Naruse was really examining was how each person approached problems and made decisions.

He didn't waste time asking pointless questions like "what do you think your strengths are" — instead, he threw out concrete hypothetical scenarios.

For instance.

"If two clubs got into a dispute over facility usage, how would you handle it?"

"If the Student Council asked you to finish an investigative report within three days, what would you do?"

Through this line of questioning, Naruse's attention was suddenly drawn to a Class A boy named Kousei Sanada.

He wore glasses, had consistently solid grades, above-average athletic ability, courteous manners, and a fairly sharp sense of insight.

"Not bad… he's promising material for getting things done."

After the boy left, Naruse marked his file with a "top-tier" rating.

By around half past twelve, only about ten people were left to interview.

Naruse had already settled on two picks: Kousei Sanada from Class A and Mako Amikura from Class B. Both leaned toward collectivism when facing problems, which fit his standard.

Leaning toward the collective meant they'd be easier to command.

As for the last spot, he hadn't decided yet — he could wait until everyone remaining had been interviewed.

By then, Kei had already returned, Maya Sato and Nene Mori trailing behind her. All three carried big shopping bags stuffed with premium bento boxes packed in fancy paper containers.

"Phew~"

The three of them set all the bentos down on the table at the back of the room. Kei wiped the sweat off her forehead and hurried over to Naruse.

"Hikaru-kun, I got everything!"

There was a touch of pride in her voice, and seeing her obvious "praise me already" expression, Naruse's face softened into an indulgent smile.

"Nice work. Let's hand them out to everyone now."

Naruse got up and walked to the classroom door, calling out to the students in the hallway — both those waiting on results and those still waiting to be interviewed.

"Thanks for coming out to interview today, everyone. We've got bentos prepared for you — it's lunchtime, so come get some food."

He signaled for Kei and her two friends to start handing the bentos out one by one.

The premium bentos were pricey, but the quality was guaranteed.

Each one came with a bottled drink, and once opened, revealed a vividly colored, beautifully arranged spread of dishes — roasted chicken legs, rolled omelet, fried shrimp, vegetable salad, and more.

When the applicants opened their boxes and saw what was inside, they were visibly surprised.

After all, few people were willing to spend over a thousand points on a fancy bento — most students were used to the ordinary set meals at the cafeteria, which usually ran just a few hundred points.

Occasionally going out to eat with friends was pricier too, but split among everyone it wasn't so bad.

But the premium bento in their hands right now was worth about two cafeteria meals put together, so students from all three classes were startled — especially those from First-year Class A.

"Naruse-san is so generous!"

"No kidding, and it's the premium kind! Looks like he bought dozens of them, too."

"That's got to be tens of thousands of points at least. Naruse-san really knows how to treat people right."

Voices of gratitude and admiration rose up all around, one after another.

Standing at the classroom door, Naruse reflected that students were simple creatures — a small favor here and there was enough to make them remember you.

After all, if he ever ended up competing against Miyabi Nagumo for Student Council President down the line, every first-year would get a vote. Even if he had no interest in the presidency himself, he could still lay the groundwork for influence ahead of time.

Meanwhile, Naruse handed a bento over to Ichinose.

"Ichinose, hungry?"

She took the box, her clear, wide eyes curving into two crescent moons.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony."

Ichinose wasn't the shy, hesitant type. Compared to other girls, there was an easy, open-hearted side to her personality, which was exactly why she was so comfortable to be around.

"You're really generous today, Naruse-san. All these bentos couldn't have been cheap, right?"

"It's a necessary expense. I think you understand what I mean, Ichinose."

"I do. You're really something else, Naruse-san — quite the bold decision-maker."

"Well, of course."

Naruse arched an eyebrow, and the two of them shared a smile. The mood was pleasant.

But watching this, Kei's "cheating-cat" radar snapped on instantly. She grabbed Naruse's arm, pulled him over to a nearby table, and said flatly.

"Hikaru-kun, I'm hungry. Let's go eat too."

"Sure."

Naruse didn't refuse. He gave Ichinose a nod, then went with Kei to the table nearby.

How you acted alone with someone was different from how you acted with others around.

Whether you were a man or a woman, you had to consider your partner's pride when it came to their requests — that was the secret to managing a relationship.

Thirty bentos had been ordered on the generous side rather than the stingy one, so after everyone had been served, there were still extras left over.

So Naruse called over Kei's two friends, who'd just helped out, to eat as well — and while he was at it, sent each of them a 3,000-point red envelope.

"Thanks for helping Kei carry the bentos today. Just a small token — nothing much."

The two girls stared wide-eyed at the transfer notifications on their phones.

"Wow, Naruse-san, you're way too generous!"

"Seriously, now we feel bad accepting it."

"Ha, you two spend so much time with Kei — please keep looking out for her."

Kei looked thoroughly pleased with her friends' envious stares. She patted Naruse on the shoulder and muttered.

"Honestly, there you go again, Hikaru-kun. It's usually me looking out for them!"

"Same difference~"

Her voice was full of unhidden delight and admiration.

Ichinose sat at a different table, eating alongside two Class B girls, Yuki Himeno and Mako Amikura.

Himeno popped a piece of rolled omelet into her mouth and said quietly.

"They're so sweet together, Karuizawa and Naruse-san. They're even feeding each other."

Amikura glanced over too. Not far ahead, Kei was holding a piece of beef with her chopsticks, feeding it into Naruse's mouth, both of them smiling.

"Really sweet. Makes you jealous."

Watching a handsome guy and a pretty girl in love really was a pleasant sight — everyone enjoyed watching it.

Ichinose's expression, however, was clearly a little off.

She knew Kei and Naruse's relationship was a fake one — that much couldn't be faked. Back when the two of them had brought up the topic, Naruse had responded in a way that confirmed it.

But as the number of times she'd seen them together increased, Ichinose's initial curiosity had gradually turned into confusion.

She'd never been in a relationship herself, but her view of romance was simple.

If it were her, she'd only ever feed someone she truly loved.

But Karuizawa... just what kind of relationship did she really have with Naruse-san?

Did a fake couple really need to go this far?